Football: Arsenal end crisis talk, Liverpool win again

Arsenal's Olivier Giroud (R) scores past Fulham's goalkeeper David Stockdale during their English Premier League football match.

LONDON - Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud gave food for thought to Arsenal fans craving a new striker by scoring in a 3-1 Premier League win at Fulham on Saturday while Liverpool made it two victories from two games at Aston Villa.

Podolski netted twice after forward partner Giroud had grabbed the opener for Arsenal who put to bed all talk of an early-season crisis by landing their first points of the campaign.

Liverpool went level on points with Chelsea at the top of the table as they won 1-0 thanks to a superb individual goal from Daniel Sturridge.

There were first victories of the season for Stoke City, who came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 2-1, and Hull City, who beat Norwich City 1-0 despite having 10 men for most of the match.

Everton drew their second successive game after failing to break down West Bromwich Albion in a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park while Newcastle United's match at home to West Ham United was also scoreless.

Sunderland took the lead at Southampton through Italian Emanuele Giaccherini but Jose Fonte equalised with two minutes to play to earn a 1-1 draw.

It was the second time in four days Arsenal had notched three goals, following Wednesday's 3-0 triumph at Fenerbahce in their Champions League playoff first leg.

Saturday's win and the manner of the performance will go some way to making up for their opening day slip-up at home to Villa while the names on the scoresheet might make fans think twice about demands for forward reinforcements.

Despite their resounding midweek victory, the pre-match talk still focused on the club's perceived failure to land a signing to excite frustrated supporters.

"You can get people to focus too much on who you will buy and forget how good the players are here," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told BT Sport.